Eureka Council to discuss Lost Coast Brewery project

The Eureka City Council will meet Tuesday to decide whether to approve $535,000 in improvements required for the Lost Coast Brewery project.

The proposed project will place a 600,000-barrel-per-year brewery on a 9.3-acre parcel of pastureland located east of South Broadway between Sunset Road and Ocean View Cemetery.

If the improvements are approved, the city would be responsible for extending the water and sewer mains to the property line, constructing sidewalks and drop curbs and completing all necessary work to design and construct improvements on Sunset Street and at the intersection of Sunset and Broadway per Caltrans standards.

In working with Lost Coast Brewery on the expansion project, Eureka City Manager David Tyson said one of the things the city found was that public utilities, as well as road and street conditions, were substandard at the chosen location.

"As we prepare the site for development, the council felt it was important to upgrade those facilities to match the needs of the property," he said.

The improvements would cost the city just under $535,000, with $96,500 coming from the city's water fund, $87,000 from the city's sewer fund, $286,000 from street improvements and $65,000 from the general fund.

According to a city staff report, the expanded facility is expected to be an economic generator for the community, adding local jobs and generating an estimated $150,000 in sales tax.

City staff are recommending the council approve the project, stating that with the $20 million investment made by Lost Coast Brewery and future revenue expected to be generated for the city, the cost of the improvements could be returned to the city in an estimated seven years.

"Not only will these improvements benefit the city and the brewery, these will be public assets," Tyson said.

In other matters, the council will be asked to authorize the mayor to execute a Joint Powers Authority Agreement finalizing the consolidation between the city and Humboldt Fire District No. 1, creating Humboldt Bay Fire Authority.

"This is really what we have been working on and toward for the last 14 months," Humboldt Bay Fire Chief Ken Woods said. "We have been calling ourselves Humboldt Bay Fire, but this is the legal, official formation that makes that a reality."

Woods said executing the agreement won't be the last step toward consolidating the city's fire department and district into one organization -- a process that has been in the works for 60 years -- but it will give officials the legal authority to begin doing a number of things, including joint purchasing, eliminating duplication and combining administrative staff.

"We have been pushing Humboldt Bay Fire for a long time," he said. "Everyone is looking forward to this. We should start seeing savings in the long-term now moving forward."

In a 5 p.m. closed session meeting, the council will also confer with legal counsel regarding existing litigation against the city and discuss the hiring of a new city manager. According to Tyson -- who announced in May that he would be retiring after his contract with the city runs out on Dec. 31 -- the council interviewed five potential candidates on Nov. 9 and one candidate is expected to return for a second meeting on Monday morning.